Werbach: 'End of Broadband'

Kevin Werbach gets right down to the essence of the FCC's reported decision to free BellSouth from state regulations that force it to sell "naked DSL" -- broadband service unbundled from its voice offerings. As Werbach neatly sums up the decision and its impact:

"The FCC ruling makes broadband an extension of phone service, rather than the reverse. It ties the data applications of the future to the anchor of the public switched telephone network. That's perverse. Voice is the application, not connectivity. We'll never have real competition if the incumbents get paid even when customers want to switch to a competitor.

"I want to pay someone for high-speed data connectivity, with the opportunity to use (and pay for) innovative applicaitons on top of that pipe. To me, that's broadband service. After the FCC decision, that may no longer be available. That's what I mean by the end of broadband as we know it. For the privilege of buying broadband, I'll have to buy phone service or something else I don't need, raising the effective price. This is the way to promote broadband adoption in the US?"

No, it's not the way to promote broadband adoption. And, to use a technical term, it's a real screw job for those who are developing and offering and adopting the new IP communication applications that would free us all from the Age of POTS.